Beholding the Lord – the Antidote to Spiritual Apathy and Laziness

This message is about the condition of the body of Christ, and then the solution, or at least a solution is offered. Jesus has been showing me the spiritual condition of His people, including myself, for ten years now. The revelation comes mostly through dreams and visions, and I have received numerous words of knowledge also. As an intercessor, this kind of revelation is to be expected for the purpose of prayer. I always seek the Lord on what I’m supposed to share. Since I am just a human, and not infallible, I have gotten it wrong at times; sharing what I was not supposed to share, and not sharing what I was supposed to, and even misunderstanding it from the get-go. Lord help me! But this message is definitely supposed to be shared with you, the body of Christ, and my brethren.

The Bible is filled with the history of how God warns His people about their spiritual condition in order to get them back on the right path, and back to their first Love. As far as the church goes, Revelation chapters two and three covers this subject quite well. We need to learn the lessons found in those scriptures concerning the messages Jesus gave the seven churches of Asia Minor. As a very brief overview, first the Lord told the churches what they were doing right. Then He told them what He had against them. He then told them what they needed to do to resolve the problems. This is a very important principle to take hold of because the Lord will not only tell us what is wrong with our walk, He always offers the solution. The issue is not whether there’s a solution, the issue is will His people actually do what He tells us to do in order to rectify the problem? Oh if we would just obey the word of God.

The Problem

This should not come as a surprise to anyone, but Jesus has shown me a spirit of apathy and spiritual laziness has come into His body. I have had multiple dreams, and a word of warning to the body of Christ about this problem. I have a couple videos posted on YouTube about it. The latest dream from Jesus about this problem with His body was just recently on June 18th, 2018. This dream is shocking to me, and it made a big impact on me.

Here is the dream:

I am watching some sort of live “show.” This means the Lord is “showing” me something. I then see Jesus walk up and at first I am excited to see Him, but then I am led to observe His appearance, and this is what I saw. Keep in mind, this is a symbolic picture of the body of Christ, at least in part.

Jesus was wearing a brown tunic. Brown is the color of dead grass and trees, think of withered branches and no fruit, think of dead leaves, and what happens to dead leaves? They fall. (Refer to Psalm 37:2, Ezekiel 47:12 NLT, John 15:1-8, Matthew 3:10.)

I then notice Jesus is very short and I am shocked by His short height. This means the body of Christ is coming up short.

I look at His arms and the right arm is very muscular and tan, but the other one doesn’t match it. This means there is at least a remnant of His body who is working hard with the Lord to fulfill His will as His extensions (arms).

I am then shocked to see the rest of the Lord’s body is out of proportion and very overweight. This means the people of God are inactive and not doing the things the Lord told us to be doing.

The Lord then turns around to face me and He starts weeping. He just weeps, and weeps and I am just astonished with the whole sight.

Well there you have it. I don’t think I need to expound on this dream. The symbology is very clear.

The Solution

The bottom line is we cannot stay where we are and go with Jesus. If we are truly running a race, as the apostle Paul told us, then we must be continually moving forward. The Lord told us one solution to a dead and fruitless spiritual walk is to get back to our first Love. What He meant is that we cannot grow spiritually if we are not communing with the Lord, but also we must embrace the sanctification process in order to continue moving forward and not become stagnant and lukewarm. I cover deeply the topic of sanctification in my latest book “Reclaiming My Wasteland,” and I share what sanctification looks like in real life. Not only is sanctification vital to our transformation into the image of Christ, but beholding the Lord while in communion with Him is also vital to our transformation. This comes from the scripture 2 Corinthians 3:16-18.

Nevertheless when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18 But we all, seeing the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, are being

transformed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MEV

There has been quite a lot written about transformation by beholding the Lord, and I want to simplify this for us so we can understand what this concept entails. What follows is the process I use in communion with the Lord. It’s interesting that when I was researching “waiting on the Lord” I found similar teachings by others and I realized I was following the same pattern as these folks. But it’s not really our pattern, the Lord has already established this pattern in the scriptures.

Transformation by Beholding the Lord Requires Waiting on the Lord

To wait on the Lord means we must set aside ample time to commune with Him daily. Jesus said if we will seek Him, He will reward us. (Read Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 40:31, Matthew 6:33, Hebrews 11:5-6, James 4:7-10.) I’m not talking about just praying for our needs and the needs of others. What I’m speaking of here is about the Lord and sincere communion for the sake of not only deepening our relationship with Him, but also the transformation that is a result of this.

Jesus said if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then everything we need will be provided (Mat 6:25-34). And where is the kingdom of God? It is within us! The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). So when we seek first God’s inner kingdom, we will learn righteousness and be transformed into the image of Christ. We receive peace, joy and rest by abiding in Christ, and through establishing consistent communion with Him.

I believe there’s good reason to commune with the Lord every day, preferably in the morning. What better way to start the day? This is about establishing consistent spiritual disciplines. I cover the need for establishing spiritual disciples in my new book, and I go into what the lifestyle of an overcomer looks like. Overcomers get up earlier in the morning and just do it!

O Lord, in the morning You will hear my voice;

in the morning I will direct my prayer to You,

and I will watch expectantly. Psalm 5:3 (Also read Psa 17:15.)

Here is the process of communing with Jesus:

1- Focus on the Lord right away and be aware of Him, even if you do not feel His presence.

– Believe by faith He is there because He promised He is always with us. Put Him before you! (Read Psa 16:8,11.)
2- Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, be thankful to Him, and bless His name. (Psa 100:4-5.)
– Thank God and express your gratitude for all he has done for you
– Praise Him because He alone is worthy to be praised
– Worship Him because He alone is worthy to be worshipped
– Exalt Him and ask Him to sit on the throne of your heart
– Adore Him and tell Jesus you love Him. I love you Jesus!
3- Repent of any sin that needs to be addressed (1 John 1:9)
4- Submit to His presence.
– Surrender your thoughts, will and attention to Him
– Continuously redirect your mind and will if you lose focus
– Be silent and listen, just as a child listens intently to their father when he speaks
5- Listen and continue to submit to His presence.
6- Perceive His voice.
– The Holy Spirit may impart a scripture, a thought, a vision, or lay a burden on your heart
– When this occurs, it is a revelation, lean into it (Move toward the Lord’s leading)
– Perceiving the voice of the Lord means you are apprehending Him

– He is revealing Himself to you in that moment, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ
7- Transformation by beholding the Lord.

– This is when the Holy Spirit transforms us from glory to glory into the image of Christ

– Christ meets us in that time of waiting on Him and beholding Him through the impartation of revelation; whether in the word, or any other way God speaks, no matter how subtle the experience may seem to us, we are being changed.

We Worship God in Spirit and Truth

In John 4:23-24 Jesus tells us how to worship Him; we must worship Him in spirit and truth because God is a Spirit. This type of communion with the Lord is the perfect example of what that scripture means. Communing with the Lord is often very subtle and not some kind of rapturous experience, although it can be like that. But don’t put God in a box. Some of the most amazing revelations about Jesus came to me in the most unexpected and subtle ways. Jesus told us the kingdom of God is within and comes without observation. Think about what this is saying! There is a kingdom inside of all who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we must get a revelation of what that really means! (Read Luke 17:20-23.)

My whole message came about by spending three hours with Jesus and leaning into the things He had been showing me in dreams. This is why it is very important to keep a journal and write down all your dreams and revelations received through communing with the Lord, as well as your revelations from the scriptures. The more you are a good steward of what He gives you, the more you will receive. (Read Matthew 13:11-12.)

The key to this is practicing it every day. Practice and repetition will create a consistent spiritual discipline of communing with the Lord. Just do it whether you feel like it not. Your flesh will tell you there are lots of other things you need to do. Do not cave into the weakness of the flesh, resist it! Seek to please God instead and He will reward you for it. It’s for your benefit in the end.